Day 40: Lochboisedale, South Uist to Bunessan, Mull
Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021
13th February 2021: 123.87km walked today taking the total to 4119.24/8868km. 12.5% of 137 entries submitting 990.96km.
Today we walk round the rest of South Uist, walk round the islands of Eriskay, Barra and Vatersay before sailing on the ferry to Oban before taking another ferry to the Isle of Mull. A lot to read about so grab a cuppa!
The main village on South Uist, Lochboisedale, is located on ‘Loch Baghasdail’, the Gaelic of its name, and is surrounded by hills and mountains. The village benefitted from expansion during the 19th-century herring boom. Today it is the ferry terminal for the island, linking them to the mainland at Oban and Mallaig, also providing moorings in the harbour with quayside facilities.
We retrace our steps back to Daliburgh, turning left onto the B888, to walk 7 kilometres to the West Kilbride settlement, ’cille bhrighde’ on the south coast. As we walk, we take in the views to the east of Easaval, ‘Easabhal’ (243m), the smallest ‘peak’ on South Uist, while to the west we see lochs, moorland and machair. As we walk, I’ll tell you a random fact about the Uists.
Hedgehogs! They are not native to the island, having been introduced back in the 1970s to help reduce garden pests; the population has since exploded with no natural predators to keep numbers under control. Unfortunately, they also like the eggs and chicks of nesting birds, so became public enemy number one. Initially, they were culled, but now NatureScot has a project which catches them humanely, then releases them back on mainland Scotland, where they are under threat.
Reaching the south of the island we turn right off the main road to re-join the final stretch of the Hebridean Way. Down near the shore near Pollachar Inn we spot the Pollachar Stone. Dating back to 2000BC, it stands 1.7 metres high and is believed to have been an ancient landmark for settlers landing on the island. We wander through West Kilbride then East Kilbride, before heading across the Sound of Eriskay. The Eriskay Causeway was completed in 2001 bringing a water and electricity supply onto the island that bears the same name.
Eriskay, Norse for ‘Eric’s Isle’, is only 3 miles long by 1.5 miles wide and boasts more beautiful white sand beaches. It is home to the last native Hebridean pony, the critically endangered Eriskay pony. They were vital to the crofters on the island years ago who used them to carry goods. They wander freely here, not strictly wild as they do have owners, usually grey in colour, and are strong and sturdy with a good temperament. Their coat is waterproof, being coarse during winter giving way to a lighter coat for summer. Hopefully, we’ll spot a few.
We pass the prominent St Michael's Church on our coastal route into the village. The beach here is called Princes Beach, ‘Coilleag a'Phrionnsa’, meaning ‘the Prince’s cockleshell strand’. It was here that Bonnie Prince Charlie landed on 23rd July 1745 to start the ‘45 uprising in Scotland; there is a cairn here to mark the event.
While we wait for the ferry to Barra, we rest a while in The Politician, ‘Am Politician’. A strange name for a pub? Therein lies a story! In 1941, the SS Politician was on its way to the United States with cargo when it ran aground in the Sound of Eriskay while attempting to meet a convoy in the north. Learning from the rescued crew that onboard was 22,000 cases of whisky, which was in very short supply on the islands, the local men started to salvage as much as they could from the hold; illegal of course. By the time the Customs officer arrived, over 2,000 cases had been retrieved, some say it could have been nearer 7,000. Individuals were prosecuted for their looting; a salvage operation was attempted but not entirely successful. In the end, Customs detonated the hold to destroy the bottles remaining. Some bottles resurfaced from hiding spots sporadically or the odd lucky diver found an intact bottle, each of which was auctioned for good money. A further salvage operation took place in 1990, raising a further 24 bottles, but was abandoned as the weather turned unfavourable. This event inspired a book, ‘Whisky Galore’ by Compton MacKenzie in 1947, a fictional comedy of the happenings. It has since been made into 2 films of the same name in 1949 and 2016. There are some relics on display from this incident in the pub.
We board the ferry for our 40 minutes sail over the Sound of Barra into Ardveenish on the north of Barra, spotting the uninhabited Isle of Fuday as we go. Barra, ‘Eilean Bharraigh’, is the most westerly island of the UK, and as a result, has the most westerly golf course at Cleat. Like most of the Western Isles, it is rich with beaches, hills, machair and moorland. Its interior is hilly and uninhabited, while in the north and west there are sandy beaches packed with machair and the southeast is mainly rocky inlets. It packs a lot into an 18-kilometre long by 10-kilometre-wide island! So many activities can be enjoyed here; walking, fishing, surfing, sailing, kayaking, golf, cockling and pony trekking (on Eriskay ponies!). No wonder it has earned the nicknames Barra-dise and Barra-bados! Barra also holds the ‘Barrathon’ annually, a half marathon held on the last Saturday in June. ‘Whisky Galore’ (1949) was filmed here and BBC2’s documentary, ‘An Island Parish’, recorded 2 series following a new priest who had arrived on the island.
We begin our journey on the east shore road to Castlebay. After a few kilometres, we arrive at a road junction where we turn left. The Hebridean Way follows a route around the west of the island, ending in Vatersay, but we are walking down the east coast and we’ll pick it up briefly after Castlebay. To our right is a wide expanse of beach called ‘Traigh Mhor’. At its furthest point from us is an area called Cockle Sand; this is Barra Airport! It is said to be one of the world’s most scenic landing locations and it's understandable why. The flight timetable varies as it is dependent on a low tide for touchdown and baggage collection is a bus shelter; not often you have the pleasure of seeing your bags alight the plane with you either.
We round the Bay to arrive at ‘Cille Bharra’ at Eoligarry. There are church ruins and an old cemetery here dating back to the 12th century. It is named after St Finnbarr, like Barra itself, who may have visited Barra and founded the Christian church in the 6th century. An interesting artefact was found here in 1865; a stone carved with a Celtic cross on one side and a rune on the other, proving the Vikings were here when Christianity came to Barra. Throughout the centuries, the island has remained a Catholic outpost, even though the world around it became predominantly Protestant. Compton MacKenzie, of ‘Whisky Galore’ fame, was buried in the cemetery in 1972, his grave marked by a simple cross.
Heading south for 6 kilometres to the head of Loch Obe, we pass the site of Balnabodach, a deserted blackhouse village; the houses are just humps in the grass today. The land was cleared in 1848 by the landlord, using the potato blight famine as an excuse (no one was starving here) to ship the crofters off to Canada. They weren’t the first settlers on this spot though; there is evidence of Neolithic activity around 2000BC, a lot of it destroyed by the building of the blackhouses at some point during the 18th century.
We follow the rugged coast road for a further 5 kilometres through the settlements of Bodach, Earsary, and Skallary to Brevig. Looking out over Brevig Bay is the Brevig Standing Stones, one standing 2.79 metres high on a ridge. A few kilometres more take us into Castlebay on the south coast, with views of Heaval (383m), a mountain sitting behind the main village.
The first thing we see coming into Castlebay is Kisimul Castle on an islet in the Bay; the reason why the village is named as it is! In the 19th century, it was a thriving herring port like many others on the islands. The ferry port has linked the island to the mainland since the late 19th century and today there are links to Oban, Lochboisdale and Mallaig. You can usually take a boat just 180 metres across the Bay to visit Kisimul Castle, ‘Castle in the Sea’, but the castle is currently closed to the public. A restored medieval tower house dating back to the 11th century, it is the seat of Clan MacNeil of Barra. The castle was abandoned in 1838 and was quarried and left to deteriorate; some of the stone ended up as paving on the streets of Glasgow! The chief of Clan MacNeil of Barra purchased the castle in 1937 and began restoration works. In 2001, the Clan leased it to Historic Environment Scotland for 1000 years at an annual cost of £1 and a bottle of whisky! We grab a little lunch before heading off to Vatersay at the award-winning Cafe Kisimul, an Indian-Italian seafood restaurant, to sample their famous scallop pakora followed by monkfish and cod with tuna-based masala, all washed down with a craft beer.
We follow the shore of a small coastal inlet, ‘Bagh Beag’, out of the village along the south coast to reach the Vatersay Causeway. We pass an area called Allt Chrisal on the slopes of Bentangaval where, during excavations for the causeway, more archaeology was uncovered. Structures, remains and artefacts dating from 4000BC, 2500BC and Iron Age right through to early AD have been found. Barra is peppered with these sites. Many duns, or Iron Age brochs, and cairns can be found around the island; the best example being Dun Bharpa in the valley near Borve, a Neolithic cairn 5m high and 34 m in diameter.
We cross the Vatersay Causeway which was completed at some point in 1991 (it was never officially opened like the others). Vatersay, Bhatarsaigh’, means ‘water island’, and is very small so has great views to the islands of Sandray, Pabbay and Mingulay. You can access these islands via boat trip from Barra. Vatersay also has Bronze and Iron Age remains. It was known for its beef rearing and lobster fishing in the 1900s. At that time the cattle had to swim from Vatersay to Barra to be taken to market on the Castlebay ferry. A prize bull drowned in 1986 while trying to cross the Sound of Vatersay which heightened the call for a permanent roadway across to the island.
We are back on the Hebridean Way here which finishes in the main settlement of Vatersay toward the south of the island. Their most famous export of recent years is The Vatersay Boys, a band who are big on the Celtic and Gaelic music scene. We pass through the settlement of Caolas and follow the route around the east side of the island for 5 kilometres to reach Vatersay. It has 2 beautiful beaches not far apart, West Beach ‘Traigh Siar’ and Vatersay Beach on the bay, ‘Bagh Bhatarsaigh’. As we look to the west, we see a monument near the dunes of the West Beach, the Annie Jane Monument. In 1853, an emigrant ship, ‘Annie Jane’ left Liverpool with 450 folks on board sailing to a new life in Quebec. She struck rocks on the island, having been severely incapacitated by a storm and had drifted for days; 350 passengers/crew drowned. The ship had only been sailing for 4 months. The victims were buried along the shore on the island, the location is no longer known. The monument marks the spot where survivors, victims and wreckage came ashore. Such a peaceful, beautiful spot, it's so hard to imagine such a tragedy.
We retrace our steps back to Castlebay to board our ferry back to Oban. A 5-hour sailing takes us across the Sea of the Hebrides, through the Sound of Mull, into Oban ferry terminal on the Firth of Lorn. We don’t have long as we have our next ferry to catch. When we return, we’ll see more of Oban, but for now, we are off to Mull!
Mull, ‘An t-Eilean Muileach’, is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides and fourth largest in Scotland. It has 480 kilometres of coastline and benefits weatherwise from being on the Gulfstream. Mull has a variety of habitats; white sandy beaches, forest, moorland, bogs, waterfalls, and mountains as well as rugged coastlines; numerous islands lie off its coast. Rich with wildlife, its rarest attraction is the white-tailed sea eagle, giving Mull the nickname of ‘Eagle Island’. An island resident is called a Mulloch, ‘Muileach’. Mull has a similar history to the other islands around it but evidence has been found of Mesolithic settlement, dating back 11,000 years. Tourism is the mainstay of the island’s economy; there is also farming, fishing and forestry. There is also a brewery and distillery based in Tobermory and Isle of Mull cheese is made on the island. Given its diverse scenery, several films have used locations on the island: Entrapment (1999) and Kidnapped (1971) being the most famous.
Arriving at Craignure ferry port we turn left onto the B8073 for a short period passing Torosay Castle built in 1858 and designed by David Bryce of Glasgow. It sits on a sheltered location by Duart Castle and is privately owned today. It was once called Duart House but when Duart Castle was sold to new owners they changed its name to Torosay, an old parish name. The gardens are open to the public during the summer months. Looking inland from here we can’t fail to notice the second-highest mountain on Mull, Dun da Ghaoithe, ‘Fort of the two winds’, (766m) the island’s only Corbett.
Just along the road, we take a left turn to skirt Duart Bay reaching the impressively positioned Duart Castle, ‘Caisteal Dhubhairt’. Perched on a rocky outcrop at the head of Duart Point looking out over Loch Linnhe, it's great defensive spot dating back to the 13th century when the castle was built by Clan MacDougall. From the 14th century, it was owned by Clan MacLean until 1691 when the Clan surrendered to the Duke of Argyll, who demolished it and scattered the stones! However, in 1911, 221 years after it left Clan MacLean hands, the castle grounds were purchased by the 26th MacLean Chief, Sir Fitzroy Maclean. He restored the castle and lived there until his death. It is still the seat of Clan MacLean today and they continue the work of restoration and maintenance. You have a great view of Lismore Lighthouse in the Loch from the castle’s position, which we pass while on the ferry into Mull.
There is a story told about the 11th Clan Chief and his wife. In c1520 the chief tried to murder his wife, Catherine (who was the sister of the Chief of Clan Campbell), as she wasn’t producing an heir. He left her on a rock in the loch for the tide to sweep her away. The next morning, she had gone so he announced that she was dead. He was invited some time later to a banquet by her brother at Inveraray Castle. Upon his arrival, he was greeted by his wife seated at the table! She had been picked up by a passing boat and had not drowned at all. He left the Castle unharmed that night but was murdered in Edinburgh in 1523.
The 13th chief was even less pleasant than the 11th! He burst into the wedding banquet of his widowed mother and killed 18 of the guests, imprisoning his new stepfather and torturing him! Also has a similarity to a certain ‘red wedding’...if you watched ‘Game of Thrones’.
We return to the main road and follow it around the coast past Loch Don and Loch Spelve, then leaving the road to take a trail south on Loch Spelve’s west shore. We progress over grass and moorland, with the hills overlooking us to the north, to Loch Uisg then following the River Uisg into a small settlement on Loch Buie, called Lochbuie. We pass the ruins of Moy Castle built in 1360 by the Laird of Lochbuie, who was of Clan MacLaine. It was abandoned in 1752 when the first Lochbuie House was completed nearby; we now head to visit standing stones in the grounds of the most recent house built in 1792. Sitting in a boggy field, in the shadow of Ben Buie, these stones date back to Neolithic times.
We return to the lochside, and as we leave Lochbuie we pass St Kilda Church, built and consecrated to the Saint in 1876 by the Laird, to arrive at the settlements’ Post Office. A hut by the water’s edge, it is stocked with crafts, snacks, ice cream, cake and tea making facilities. We grab a cuppa and a well-earned ‘bake’ to sustain us for the next part of the route ahead, leaving our payment in an honesty box. Following an old drove road initially, we then skirt Loch Buie along the rocky coastline to arrive at Glen Byre, where a stream flows into the sea via several pools, great for a quick dip! From here the trail becomes trickier and increasingly wild over high cliffs with great views; finally arriving in Carsaig after almost 23 kilometres. We will return to the settlement after we visit the Carsaig Arches, a further 7 kilometres along the rocky terrain of Carsaig Bay to view them at Malcolm’s Point. Those who don’t like difficult terrain and heights are best to stay behind, it’s not a route for the fainthearted. There is entertainment, however, provided by the seals sunbathing and grunting at each other on the rocks.
Starting at Carsaig Pier, we follow muddy tracks across grassland on the cliffside and by the shore, clamber over rocks and boulders, and cross fords on the beach to arrive at Nun’s cave. Inside we find 6th-century religious carvings, thought to be left by the nuns fleeing Iona during the Scottish Reformation. We continue along slightly easier tracks, accompanied by a herd of wild goats munching seaweed for a time (cute at first, then smelly and threatening!), leading to the arches themselves. We are met with hexagonal basalt column cliffs, at the base of which are the arches; there is volcanic rock debris on the beach. The adventurous ones climb the goat track to the top to admire the view before we retrace our steps back to Carsaig.
From Carsaig we follow the Carsaig Road north for 6 kilometres through hills, moorland, and forest, passing a random red phone box on the way, to reach Pennyghael on Loch Scridain. Its name is believed to have come from the usage of ‘The Pennyland of the Gael’ when land was valued in a penny or a fraction of it. Settlement here dates to 4000BC and the MacGillivray Clan have been the predominant clan in this area for centuries. A renowned Beaton family of physicians also practised here for many generations, serving the Lord of the Isles, then the Clan MacLean and the local community. There is a stone cross memorial to them, erected in 1582, sitting on the lochside.
At Pennyghael we turn left onto the A849 following Loch Scridain for 12 kilometres before heading to Bunessan on Loch na Lathaich. The Ross of Mull Historical Centre, based here, is a hub for information, history, and genealogical archive for the Ross of Mull area, into which we have now entered.
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